Chicago School Board member Che “Rhymefest” Smith plans to introduce a resolution that would require the next head of Chicago Public Schools be an educator, not an accountant or a budget director, like some former district leaders.
He wants to dispense with the current CEO position and have a superintendent take over the nation’s fourth largest school district.
“It’s time for us to have leadership that is education-focused, not business-focused, looking at schools as business or children as commodities,” Smith said. He expects the board to consider a resolution at the next school board meeting on Feb. 27. If it is supported by the majority of the board, Smith says he believes state lawmakers will be open to making the change.
State Sen. Robert Martwick (D-Chicago) says he’s open to exploring the idea.
“The advantage of a superintendent is that they ask, ‘What do we need to do to educate our children and what resources do we need?’ “ he said. “While a CEO might say, ‘What resources do we have and how can we use them to educate children?’ It is somewhat of a different focus.”
Martwick said the change was contemplated when the state legislature created the elected school board in Chicago in 2021. Ultimately, lawmakers decided to hold off to avoid making that bill more complex.
The debate over a superintendent versus a CEO will come into play almost immediately; the board will be looking for someone to take over in June. CEO Pedro Martinez was fired in December, but a provision in his contract allows him to stay on through the end of the school year.
While the board will hire the next leader, Mayor Brandon Johnson still appoints the majority of members and so he will, to some degree, control who is chosen. Johnson’s office did not offer an opinion on Smith’s proposed change. In a statement, the mayor’s office said it had not seen the resolution and would “welcome more information” about it.
Smith, who represents the school board’s 10th District on the South Side, says having a CEO allows the mayor to have a “wider pot of more inexperienced people to place in a position.”
“We have to slim that pot down, so that the board has confidence that at least they understand what principals and teachers are going through,” he said.
Chicago has had a CEO since 1995, when the legislature handed over control of the school district to former Mayor Richard M. Daley, including the power to appoint the school board and CEO. The only qualification for a CEO in state law is that it “shall be a person of recognized administrative ability and management experience.”
But superintendents must have a master’s degree, usually in education, two years of experience in an administrative role and a superintendent endorsement from an accredited university. That endorsement requires training, classes and a 12-month internship.
Thirty years ago, Daley was looking for someone to help the district dig out of a financial hole, as well as improve low test scores. It was also a time that some leaders were embracing a corporate management style for school districts. The change to a CEO allowed Daley to pick Paul Vallas, the city’s budget director.
Over the years, other CEOs have had no education experience, including Ron Huberman and Forrest Claypool, both of whom, like Vallas, worked in city government prior to running CPS. Janice Jackson, a former teacher and principal who served as CEO until 2021, stood out because of her education experience. Martinez is an accountant by training but ran other school districts as a superintendent prior to taking over at CPS.
Chicago Public Schools was the first district in the nation to have a CEO. Some other cities followed: The Council of Great City Schools says that seven of its 78 members, including Chicago, don’t have superintendents. Four are CEOs, two are chancellors and the last is director of schools.
Sarah Karp covers education for WBEZ. Follow her on X @WBEZeducation and @sskedreporter.